Ant Thornton, Senator of New Mexico, said that schools and libraries should better inform parents about book content and prevent young children from accessing inappropriate materials. The statement was made on X.
"For those of you who didn't know," said Anthony Linn Thornton, New Mexico State Senator from 198th District (R). "These books are in our public schools and libraries… young children should not be exposed to this nonsense. As a minimum, we should have a rating system so parents know about the content within any particular book."
New Mexico lawmakers are divided on how schools and public libraries handle contested books and notify parents. Senate Bill 552 would require every district to adopt a formal "reconsideration" policy for challenged materials and file it with the Public Education Department by September 1, 2025. House Bill 27 would tie state funding for public libraries to enforcing their existing challenge procedures. This debate reflects national discussions over parental rights, intellectual freedom, and whether notification or access limits should accompany collections.
According to the American Library Association (ALA), while comprehensive state-level data for New Mexico on challenged books in the past year are limited, national data show that in 2024 there were 821 reported attempts to censor library materials in the U.S., involving 2,452 unique titles—down from 1,247 attempts and 4,240 titles in 2023—indicating the scale of the challenge landscape against which New Mexico’s lawmakers are acting.
In reviewing the legislative texts for New Mexico’s SB 552 and HB 27, one finds that SB 552 mandates each school district and charter school governing body to establish by September 1, 2025, a written policy for acquisition, retention, display, use, and reconsideration of library resources; likewise, HB 27 would require public libraries to follow their written challenge-removal policies under penalty of losing state funding. These requirements reflect a trend toward formalized parental-notification or consent frameworks. According to the New Mexico Legislative Analysis.
Anthony L. Thornton (known as "Ant" Thornton) is a Republican member of the New Mexico State Senate representing District 19 (Bernalillo, Sandoval, Santa Fe & Torrance Counties), having taken office on January 1, 2025 after winning the November 2024 election. He is a retired aerospace engineer with a Ph.D., spent 27 years at Sandia National Laboratories (becoming its first Black executive director) and ran unsuccessfully in 2022 for Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico. According to Ballotpedia and the NM Senate GOP site.
